Is Website SEO Still Worth Doing?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a complicated beast.
Getting your website to the top of Google rankings is almost an art these days. The rules shift every few months, there’s onsite and offsite SEO to consider, and the whole SEO process can be super confusing and time-consuming.
So why bother? Wouldn’t it be easier to invest your money in advertising and fast-track your site to the number one spot? Is website SEO even worth doing?
The answer is yes, but…
SEO remains an essential part of your marketing strategy. But it’s not a standalone solution, and there is a right way and wrong way to go about it.
So, let’s see how SEO has changed in the last few years, why it’s still vital, and how it works now.
Search engine optimisation or SEO is the way you design your website to rank highly on search engines (such as Google). It’s a way for the content of your website (both at the front-end and back-end) to communicate with search engines to tell them what kind of content and services you provide.
When anyone types in a search query, it’s Google’s job to provide the most relevant and precise websites. Basically, a search engine will scan your site and measure a vast amount of data to find out about your content, products and services with the goal of matching your site up to the right query.
But it’s not just about content and keywords: Google also ranks websites according to their authority and user experience.
That’s why SEO can be broken down into two categories
In the “olden days” of Google (i.e. a few years ago), SEO was relatively easy and could be bought or faked. Back then, you could pay to get low-quality backlinks to your site to boost your ranking. You could also stuff articles with repeated keywords to “trick” search engines, use clickbait headlines and other underhanded tactics.
Nowadays, Google isn’t so easily deceived and is getting smarter by the week. You can’t get away with any of the above SEO “techniques.” In fact, Google will probably penalise you for attempting them.
So, what exactly is Google looking for now? The exact data is top secret, spoken of only in the hallowed hallways of Google itself. But we do have a pretty good idea.
SEO Practices For Higher Rankings
Here are just a few SEO practices that can help your site rank higher.
Can I Skip SEO And Just Use PPC?
PPC (Price Per Click) is when you buy ads and sponsored links so that they will be visible in the SERPs (Search Engine Page Results) – hopefully, at the top!
You can bid on keywords that are relevant to your business. The cost of this ranges from a few cents to a few dollars for popular keywords, depending on the competition of other businesses who might be bidding for the same terms.
The main benefit of PPC is that you can get your page ranking much faster than using SEO, which usually takes longer to do its job.
While PPC is faster, there are still no guarantees that your business will be at the top of the results. Plus, it can get expensive really quickly.
Another reason to ensure your SEO is on point is that organic results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than PPC results.
Why Website SEO Is Still Valuable
Website SEO is more of a long game. Although the results are not instant, they are more valuable over time than PPC (although a combo of both methods may work for you).
Google is still the primary way people look for businesses, services, and information. “Googling” has become a commonly used verb. There are 400,000 search queries every second and more than 3.5 billion searches per day. If you aren’t ranking on Google by using good website SEO, you are going to miss out on a massive source of leads.
Organic search (people finding your website naturally via a search engine) is still the largest source of trackable web traffic, with an average traffic share of 53% across all industries. Paid search advertising (like PPC) only accounts for 15%.
While SEO can be fiddly and take a while to learn, it is a super cost-effective way to draw people to your website, especially if you target keywords and produce content that brings in the right people (which is a whole other blog post!)
Website SEO is definitely worth doing – if you do it well. It’s not enough just to increase traffic. You need to target the right traffic with the right intent. Doing so will not only ensure your brand is seen and remembered; it will help you grow your business and increase revenue.
If you need someone to help sort out your Shopify website SEO, contact us today, and we’ll get to work on those Google rankings ASAP.
Getting your website to the top of Google rankings is almost an art these days. The rules shift every few months, there’s onsite and offsite SEO to consider, and the whole SEO process can be super confusing and time-consuming.
So why bother? Wouldn’t it be easier to invest your money in advertising and fast-track your site to the number one spot? Is website SEO even worth doing?
The answer is yes, but…
SEO remains an essential part of your marketing strategy. But it’s not a standalone solution, and there is a right way and wrong way to go about it.
So, let’s see how SEO has changed in the last few years, why it’s still vital, and how it works now.
Is Website SEO Still Worth Doing?
What Is SEO?Search engine optimisation or SEO is the way you design your website to rank highly on search engines (such as Google). It’s a way for the content of your website (both at the front-end and back-end) to communicate with search engines to tell them what kind of content and services you provide.
When anyone types in a search query, it’s Google’s job to provide the most relevant and precise websites. Basically, a search engine will scan your site and measure a vast amount of data to find out about your content, products and services with the goal of matching your site up to the right query.
But it’s not just about content and keywords: Google also ranks websites according to their authority and user experience.
That’s why SEO can be broken down into two categories
- On-page optimisation, such as keywords, technical performance and content.
- Off-page optimisation in the form of link-building and back end performance
In the “olden days” of Google (i.e. a few years ago), SEO was relatively easy and could be bought or faked. Back then, you could pay to get low-quality backlinks to your site to boost your ranking. You could also stuff articles with repeated keywords to “trick” search engines, use clickbait headlines and other underhanded tactics.
Nowadays, Google isn’t so easily deceived and is getting smarter by the week. You can’t get away with any of the above SEO “techniques.” In fact, Google will probably penalise you for attempting them.
So, what exactly is Google looking for now? The exact data is top secret, spoken of only in the hallowed hallways of Google itself. But we do have a pretty good idea.
SEO Practices For Higher Rankings
Here are just a few SEO practices that can help your site rank higher.
- Keyword optimisation – although keyword stuffing is a no-no, choosing the right keyword/s and incorporating them into your content is still vital to help your site get seen by the right people.
- Excellent content – this is the most crucial aspect of SEO. Write relevant, helpful, up-to-date content for your audience and Google will reward you.
- Link building – high-quality links to your website from other relevant sites build your authority and boost your importance to search engines.
- Technical optimisation – Google cares about user experience, so judges your website on whether it’s optimised for mobile phone and tablets. It also prioritises loading time.
Can I Skip SEO And Just Use PPC?
PPC (Price Per Click) is when you buy ads and sponsored links so that they will be visible in the SERPs (Search Engine Page Results) – hopefully, at the top!
You can bid on keywords that are relevant to your business. The cost of this ranges from a few cents to a few dollars for popular keywords, depending on the competition of other businesses who might be bidding for the same terms.
The main benefit of PPC is that you can get your page ranking much faster than using SEO, which usually takes longer to do its job.
While PPC is faster, there are still no guarantees that your business will be at the top of the results. Plus, it can get expensive really quickly.
Another reason to ensure your SEO is on point is that organic results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than PPC results.
Why Website SEO Is Still Valuable
Website SEO is more of a long game. Although the results are not instant, they are more valuable over time than PPC (although a combo of both methods may work for you).
Google is still the primary way people look for businesses, services, and information. “Googling” has become a commonly used verb. There are 400,000 search queries every second and more than 3.5 billion searches per day. If you aren’t ranking on Google by using good website SEO, you are going to miss out on a massive source of leads.
Organic search (people finding your website naturally via a search engine) is still the largest source of trackable web traffic, with an average traffic share of 53% across all industries. Paid search advertising (like PPC) only accounts for 15%.
While SEO can be fiddly and take a while to learn, it is a super cost-effective way to draw people to your website, especially if you target keywords and produce content that brings in the right people (which is a whole other blog post!)
Website SEO is definitely worth doing – if you do it well. It’s not enough just to increase traffic. You need to target the right traffic with the right intent. Doing so will not only ensure your brand is seen and remembered; it will help you grow your business and increase revenue.
If you need someone to help sort out your Shopify website SEO, contact us today, and we’ll get to work on those Google rankings ASAP.